Soup & Bread Cookbook

Released in November 2011 by Agate Publishing, the Soup & Bread Cookbook: Building Community One Pot at a Time is a revised and expanded edition of the self-published 2009 Soup & Bread Cookbook, now with more recipes and more stories of the ways people can use soup as a tool for building community.

Begun in 2009 by author Martha Bayne, and now staged each winter with the assistance of designer Sheila Sachs and a slew of other helping hands, each week the Soup & Bread series at Chicago’s Hideout features recipes from well-known Chicago chefs such as Paul Kahan, the James Beard-bedecked maestro behind Blackbird and Avec, and Stephanie Izard, winner of Bravo’s Top Chef) as well as a range of nonprofessional soup enthusiasts. Guests are encouraged to leave a donation, and all proceeds benefit the Greater Chicago Food Depository and a wide range of neighborhood food pantries and other hunger relief organizations. The recipes in the Soup & Bread Cookbook are all culled from Soup & Bread, resulting in a collection that is diverse in scope but uniformly delicious.

Illustrated by Paul Dolan, the book is organized into categories such as “Soup From Home,” “Soup That Shines,” “Chili For Competition,” and “Soup for (More Than) Sustenance,” and ends with a set of basic stock recipes. Throughout, Bayne weaves in stories of soup kitchens, soup swaps, and soup-driven art, showcasing how people all over the U.S. use soup to further social outreach, foster community, and help others. Want a taste? Go here to read an excerpt.